White Peach Blooming

All of Leslie's three styles of dance require a separate gown.  She and husband/partner Lee compete in American Smooth, Rhythm, and International Standard Ballroom.  Her Standard and Smooth gowns share floral details.  The Smooth gown has hand made passimentary roses, buds and vines.

 

 

Her Standard gown is a tropical fantasy of vibrantly bright, multicolored 2 dimensional flat blooms drenched in Swarovski sparkle. 

 

 

But her rhythm gown was a simple shape with clean lines and no flowers at all.  Until this week!

 

Leslie and Leland are headed to Amateur Nationals next week, to defend their championship titles.  Lee got a new look for his Smooth dancing earlier this spring, and looks very dapper and chic in his new shawl collar sleeveless jacket. 

 

Thank you Scott Anderson for sharing your photograph!

But Leslie was ready for a new look for the olderst of her gowns, and (following a comment at a recent showcase from coach and judge Mariusz Oslewski) wanted to bring pizazz, focus and color to the elegant, clean shape we originally designed.  I believe there can also be an advantage to visual cohesivness across the range of styles a couple dances, so we made White Peach bloom!

 

 

We gave her right shoulder a beautiful coral and peach toned garden, accented with limey green orchids.  We also created a choker and cuff, to balance the silk grouping on the right shoulder.  And we added just a little Swarovski sparkle to the garden, to help is belong to and blend with the gown.

 

 

We were careful to stay out of the way of her upper left back, where Lee's hand connects with her in hold, and the placing the cuff on the left hand both helped with garment balance, and kept the garden away from wrist connections in their choreography.

We send our best wishes for a joyous and successful competition to Leland and Leslie and appreciate the chance to "dance along."